At the ABC membership meeting in May 1998 a motion was made to allow the ABC membership to vote on moving the national specialty to the center of the country. The matter was brought to a vote, and in August 1998, the majority of the membership casting votes did, in fact, vote in favor of that move. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong!

The controversy still lingers and a good part of that is because of the hurt or offended feelings being expressed by some of the folks on the East Coast. There are many there who feel this desire to get out of the East was done out of spite or resentment. I cannot speak for the entire membership, but I know those of us in the mid-west did not vote AGAINST having the national back East, we voted FOR balancing the time and expense involved in getting our dogs to the ABC. Our particular concern was for the puppies who make the journey every year to participate in the Futurity. The stress we put on these young hopefuls is considerable. Ideally it would be nice to have the ABC in our own backyard every year where the puppies would not have to go any distance at all. That not being an option and regardless of where the national finally lands, bottom line is that someone’s puppies are going to travel for just hours while others will be on the road far longer. The Futurity is the heart of the national specialty and those of you who attend every year and bring your puppies know it. The ABC would be nothing more than another Regional without the Futurity. Over the years I have talked to many breeders, and our attendance at the ABC is directly related to the Futurity.

I have only been going to the ABC for about the last eight or nine years, so there are many of you with far more experience and miles under your belt who have made the pilgrimage back East to the boxer shrine each May. And I have only been to two locations - Newark and Frederick. The Newark location was unsafe, and while the new location in Frederick has made things safer for us, it is still not adequate to fit the needs of an ever-growing entry and all the trappings that come along with that - more people, more dogs, more parking spaces needed, etc. As show chairman for our local boxer club, I know the difficulties in finding a facility and surrounding accommodations for a small specialty show. The thought of doing this on a national scale is almost overwhelming to me. Then again, I am only one and the ABC membership consists of many! I know there are experts within our ranks who can and have done this very thing for years working diligently to put on Regional after Regional as well as the ABC. Our membership is full of talented people who can and will accomplish the task, and it is in the best interests of the ABC’s board and membership to put the controversy behind us and to compromise on this proposed move. We must make the best of it for our breed’s sake.